“Words are not enough when we are speaking of tens of thousands of dead civilians and thousands of dead children, and many more to come as they die of disease and starvation” Alexis Tsipras pointed out  in his intervention during the meeting of the Political Committee of the Council of Europe, which is being held in Chania.

Alexis Tsipras’ intervention in the Council of Europe in detail 

“Words are not enough when we are speaking of tens of thousands of dead civilians and thousands of dead children, and many more to come as they die of disease and starvation.

What we are witnessing in Gaza today, goes far beyond any definition of self-defence against Hamas terrorist attacks or the absolutely justified demand for the release of hostages, which must happen immediately.

So I think It is not enough just to express our concern, or to call on Israel to stop its operations.

We must very clearly condemn these actions. And at the same time, the Council of Europe must call on sanctions to be imposed on Israel.

I proposed this, one year ago in Oslo and I believe now it is more necessary than ever. And we hear even European officials and many European countries express it already.

It is not acceptable to say that the Council of Europe cannot do enough. That because the Council of Europe does not have an army, it cannot do anything.

We don’t have an army, but rightly, we have supported sanctions on Russia.

If we do not do the same in the case of Israel, we are showing the world that Europe has double standards and it has learnt nothing from its mistakes.

If we do not call for sanctions our European values are not real values and we lose even more of our credibility around the world.

How can we speak again of international law or about values, if we do not say clearly today that sanctions must be imposed on the Israeli government, particularly in relation to weapons, until it stops its military operations and allows full resumption of humanitarian aid in Gaza as the UN requests?

So I believe that any report on the Middle East and any declaration by our Parliamentary Assembly should be clear on this. And this certainly includes the Crete declaration.”